The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-08-03
Pension Appeals.

Cynthia A. Phillips of Barre, VT,
applied for pension in 1881 as mother
of George II. Phillips, who died of dis
ease, while in the service, at Washing
ton, ID. c., October %, 1862. The
property owned by the applicant and
her aged husband, with his income
(mainly from teaching vocal music), was
not sufficient to prevent the claimant
from receiving a pension under the law
as a dependent mother. Her claim
was rejected on the ground that the
soldier was not legally bound to support
his mother. Her attorney, Mr.. T. j.
Deavitt of Montpelier, took an appeal
to the secretary of the interior, and
contended that the case showed that
the soldier had sufficiently acknowledged
his obligation to contribute to his
mothers support to warrant the grant
ing of a pension under the law to the
claimant. ID. l.. Hawkins, assistant
secretary of the interior, has issued the
following decision in Mrs. Phillips
case: "The age of the son at enlist
ment was twenty-four. He had left
home when twenty-one. The evidence
as to his contributions is too meager to
carry conviction. That he occasionally,
both before and after enlistment, sent
home small sums of money does not
show that the same were necessary for
the support of his mother. No one
outside of the family knew of such
contributions. The parents collected
the bounty and back pay due to the
soldier, but the pension cannot be paid
without due proof that they were de-
pendent upon him for adequate support.
This has not been shown, and the re-
lection is therefore affirmed" Claim
ants for pensions are complaining bit
terly of the decisions of the department
of the interior USUALLY made by the as
sistant secretary in cases appealed
from the action of the bureau of pen
sions. Not more than one in twelve
are said to result successfully to the
claimant And moreover, many of
these decisions are based on the opinion
of the medical referee of the pension
office, with that opinion quoted in the
decision of the secretary of the interior
as an authority for his action, which is
the very thing of which the appellant
is complaining and that he is praying
to have changed and corrected. Such
treatment of pension case is not un-
like the supreme court of Vermont
sending back to the county court where
the case was first decided and render
ing its final decision on what the county
court held to be the law of the case
If the courts of Vermont did that way
they would deserve to become the
laughing-stock of the legal profession.
In Mrs. Phillips case it is held that
the contributions were too small to
show the relation required between
a mother and son to entitle the
mother to pension in her old age.
Let this question be examined in
the light of prior cases decided by
the Hon. ii. M. Teller when secretary
of the interior. When General Black
became commissioner of pensions he
directed that digest of the laws, de-
cisions, rulings and orders now in OPP
Grafton governing the adjudication of
pension claims" be published. On
pages 176 and III of this book the con-
struction of the statutes concerning
pensions to dependent mothers is given
as follows: Among all civilized peo-
pie there is a recognized obligation on
the son to support his dependent pa
rents. 1t is not violent presumption
to suppose that every man who went
into the army would support his par
ents if their necessities required him
TO do so. So you may, in the deter
mination of these cases, accept as an
established fact that the loss of son
has deprived the parents of the support
of that son in their days of dependence
not simply deprived them of the love
and affection which goes so far toward
warding off from the declining years
of the parent many of the cares and
annoyances of such period, but that
substantial and material aid necessary